Restorative Justice and the Prison System: A View from the UK

Source: (2004) Voma Connections no. 17 (Summer): 3-4. Downloaded 15 September 2004.

There has been a recent burgeoning of interest in Restorative Justice (RJ) in prisons in the United Kingdom (UK), much of it dependent on the enthusiasm of local prison governors and staff, and the particular circumstances in those prisons. In the UK, there are no ‘systematic’ (i.e., regular, predictable, or thought out) or ‘systemic’ (i.e., involving the whole prison system) RJ processes that apply to all prisons. Nevertheless, it is possible to categorize different forms of RJ and to develop a framework that relates RJ initiatives to different aspects of the prison system and the criminal justice system in general. Initiatives can be categorized by the amount of interface they have with outside bodies, the criminal justice system in general, or the justice system within the prison. This article is an attempt to do this and to see if such a classification is useful. (excerpt)